Artistic Collaboration better by design
A UNIQUE collaboration between local schools, National Glass Centre and a major UK museum has come to a successful conclusion.
DesignLab Nation was a national educational initiative launched by V&A the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance, in 2017.
The programme brought together secondary schools, local museums and designers, practitioners and industry to inspire the next generation of designers, makers and innovators. It was originally launched in Coventry, Blackburn and Stoke-on-Trent before expanding to Sunderland and Sheffield in September 2018.
The programme was designed to be over three years, but was extended because of Covid and came to a conclusion on Wearside last month (May).
Local schools involved in the project were Castleview Enterprise Academy, Oxclose Community Academy, Sandhill View Academy, Washington Academy, St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy and Gosforth Academy.
Rachel Groves, Learning and Engagement Officer at National Glass Centre, said: “I’d like to thank the schools and local artists for their help with DesignLab Nation – we’ve had about 150 students go through the programme and teachers have talked about the differences they’ve seen in students who’ve completed the programme.
“One teacher in particular said how they’d seen pupils’ confidence grow and had also seen an improvement in pupils’ creative decision making.”
A theme was chosen for each year of the programme, and then students studied objects from V&A’s collection – and National Glass Centre’s own contemporary collection – based around the theme. The students were then given a design challenge, with support provided by local artists.
The themes provided were: skills and techniques; lighting design and repurposing materials. Artists providing support, encouragement and guidance included Sue Loughlin, James Maskrey, Colin Rennie, Rob Winter, Erin Dickson, Zoe Garner, Effie Burns, Sue Woolhouse, Rob Winter, Mary Watson, Michael Emmett and Lily Daniels.
Rachel explained: “All of the artists had a Sunderland connection, many of them are based at National Glass Centre or are academics at University of Sunderland – or both.
“We wanted to inspire young people and open their eyes to the many different careers in design. The loan collections were a starting point and the students were also able to explore National Glass Centre’s own collection.
“They then started producing their own artwork at workshops based here at National Glass Centre, with the help of our artists. The students were taken through the different stages of a design journey, exploring different techniques and processes.
“We also took groups of students down to V&A in London, where they met curators and looked round exhibitions. Staff at the V&A were very welcoming and all of the students enjoyed their visits.”
Jayne Conqueror, a teacher at St Anthony’s who was involved in the project, said: “DesignLab Nation was a wonderful, inspiring, and engaging design programme. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed working with the artists and designers.”
While St Anthony’s Year 9 pupil Olivia Skek said: “DesignLab Nation 2022 has changed and influenced my ideas on recycling and repurposing. It has me thinking the things I throw in the bin could be made into something cool.”
Artwork produced by the students is currently on display at National Glass Centre’s Collections Gallery until July 10.
DesignLab Nation is generously supported by Art Fund, The Foyle Foundation, Sarah Nichols, The Barbour Foundation, the William Brake Charitable Trust, The Fort Foundation and The James Neill Trust Fund.
